Being a content creator does seem like a glittery job with amazing perks. But is the reality always that simple and easy? The pressure of always getting the right content out, dealing with many brands, and finding the right fit is not always easy to cope with. And though consistency is expected from you as a content creator, it’s hardly ever possible to remain that consistent. But amidst all these doubts and hesitations, there exists a handful of individuals who beat the odds and truly stayed consistent and made their mark as a content creator, and one of them is none other than the awardee of the Heritage Fashion Icon Award 2024 at the National Creators Award, Janhvi Singh. 

Janhvi Singh: Early Life

Born in Nagpur and brought up in Prayagraj, Janhvi Singh had very humble beginnings. Being an introvert content creation was not something she aspired to do as a career as a kid. All she knew was that conventional career paths were what she didn’t wish to pursue, given how much they would restrict her growth in the creative spheres. 

Janhvi Singh thrived in creative domains such as dance; in fact, right before the COVID-19 lockdown, she was pursuing a diploma in Kathak. Her venture into the area of content creation started with dance. Every now and then, Janhvi Singh will post about her dance routines and her progress. But though she loved her dance content, that was not the content that catapulted her to the face of success.

Janhvi Singh: Success Story

Janhvi Singh started her content creation journey with dance, but slowly she transitioned to talking about the lessons she learnt from the self-help books that she was reading. But not everything was going seamlessly, and that’s when Janhvi Singh decided to seek help, and her help came in two forms: one, her parents and the other, her mentor Manish Pandey.

Every time we are confused, it’s always our elders or parents who try their best to guide us, and it was no different for Janhvi Singh, as it was her mother who prompted her to give the Bhagavad Gita a chance to help her with questions she has about her life. Janhvi Singh was not much of a spiritual person from the get-go, but after hearing her mother’s request, she decided to give it a try, and she realised that the Gita truly holds a lot of answers to her questions. In fact, it holds a lot of answers to many questions that are faced by people in and around her. So, instead of keeping all the knowledge to herself, she decided to share it with everyone on social media and soon carved a niche for herself in Indian culture and heritage.

Once a niche has been carved Janhvi Singh still had a long way to go before she tastes success and it was through the help of her mentor Manish Pandey and his advice to plan content for the next 700 days that instilled in her the spirit of consistency that is vital in this cutthroat ever changing realm of social media. But along with consistency, she was expected to make certain geographical shifts to ensure she could grasp better opportunities at bigger cities, and none of this would have been possible without the constant support of her parents, who were ready to support her every step of the way. According to Janhvi Singh, the one thing her parents taught her was to make the most of whatever less you have now so that you value abundance when it knocks on your door. From shifting to a flat in the same city to shifting to a metropolitan city to help nourish her dreams and attain greater heights of success, her parents ensured that she had their full support.

Afterword

After being in this business of content creation for so long, one would expect Janhvi Singh to give up or get exhausted or face burnout, but just like Day 1, Janhvi Singh mentions that she doesn’t ever face burnout because of the content but rather because of the excess screentime.  Not letting negative criticism get to her, Janhvi Singh only focuses on the criticism that carries an iota of constructiveness with it. Lastly, she leaves a message for the young dreamers, hoping that they would do their due research before jumping into a career like social media content creator because it’s not all glitz and glam and reminds them once again that consistency is the key to success in this ever-changing field of content creation.

Dreams are always beautiful, but not always do they come true as we want them to. Sometimes they come true that we never even expected them to. But hard work and being consistent with what you are doing are bound to take you at least two steps closer to what you have been dreaming about all along. And more often than not, it’s not even that hard, but something as simple as planning your next step for the next week, month or year, or investing in a short course that you have been shelving for so long could go a long way. And this unexpected realisation of a dream is what happened with the InfluencEX Awards 2024 Emerging Fashion Creator of the Year (Female) award winner Jhanvi Bhatia.

Jhanvi Bhatia Part 1: It All Started With A Dream & A Lot of Passion

Although rooted in Rajasthan, Jhanvi Bhatia was actually brought up in the hustle and bustle of Mumbai– the City of Dreams. Just like every other child out there, little Jhanvi Bhatia had a dream to work in the world that gives her the utmost happiness, i.e., Fashion. Ever since she was a child, she loved anything and everything related to fashion, especially designing outfits. She recounts how she and her mother would design her outfits for her birthday and go on a shopping spree to find the right material for the outfit. 

With her mother’s faith in her, Jhanvi Bhatia sought to make the dream that both she and her mother had of designing dresses a reality. Hence, she applied to all the best fashion schools in the country, but sadly, she didn’t get into her dream school. One would expect she would swallow the bitter pill of reality and move on from her starry dream. And she did for some time when she enrolled in a commerce course for a degree. But soon, the bitterness wore off and she realised that she couldn’t possibly give up on everything that she had ever dreamt of. And that’s when the seeds of content creator Jhanvi Bhatia that we know today started sprouting. She enrolled herself for a fashion design diploma and started creating content related to fashion on social media, all while getting a commerce degree.

Jhanvi Bhatia Part 2: Becoming The Dream

Keeping the promise she made to herself that she would get into content creation once she started her fashion diploma course, Jhanvi Bhatia started her journey as a content creator, but her dream was still not entirely fulfilled. Trying to figure out what to do and what not to do, it took a lot of patience, consistency and hard work for Jhanvi Bhatia to get where she is today. The lack of help and support on the internet on how to understand social media and unlock its true potential made it harder for Bhatia to figure it out all on her own.

But with consistent posting and sticking to a quote by Jeff Bezos that she quotes, “I think those who are patient about results and impatient about executions are the ones that make it big in life”, she made sure that her dream burned as brightly as her passion for it. And with a brand deal through Shoppers Stop, she decided to take the final plunge and go all in with content creation. 

Taking her knowledge of marketing and commerce, she expanded on her love for fashion and carved a niche in personal styling as she realised how much she truly loves helping her audience feel confident and good about what they are wearing. Creative blocks are an inevitable part of content creation, and Jhanvi Bhatia found a way around it by just asking her audience what they truly needed from her. Looking at the downside of being a fashion influencer, she does raise concerns about the overconsumption that, as an influencer, you inevitably fall prey to, thanks to the overflowing PR packages from brands and the pressure to do things a certain way to sponsor a brand.  

With time, as the followers increased steadily, so did the negative comments. There were times when Bhatia recollects she considered giving up on content creation entirely because of the perverted male gaze and moral policing in the comments and DMs that just got to her, even though she put up with it for a really long time. But eventually she decided to do what she came to do in the first place and grew an even thicker skin than the one she was born with.

This Is Just The Beginning

Reflecting on her journey so far, Bhatia recounts how overthinking tends to hinder our execution of creativity and hence expresses her glee in being able to reduce it to an extent. Furthermore, she mentions how important it is to be kind to one another on social media, given how cruel and toxic the space has become. Taking it as just the start of her long journey, Bhatia leaves the young dreamers with a message wherein she hopes that they believe in themselves and prove their love for something via actions and being consistent in what they are doing. 

India has a rich history of theatre but due to its decline in popularity, the theatre industry in India is currently struggling to reach the heights that it undeniably deserves. With the growth of Indian cinema, its theatre counterpart has taken a backseat until its recent resurgence with the spread of theatre festivals all over the country. Because of this, there has been a lack of awareness and misconceptions circulating around Indian theatre in general. This not only discourages many budding artists from pursuing theatre but also may lead to the ultimate death of theatre as an art form. And that’s exactly where Shikhar Mishra and his ingenious brand thetheatrewala strive to make a difference and revive Indian theatre. 

Shikhar Mishra: Early Life

Born in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, Shikhar Mishra most popularly known as thetheatrewala had very humble beginnings. Studying in Kendriya Vidyalaya, Mishra hailed from a family of musicians who had stopped producing music due to a lack of support in the 80s. But the gene of a performer was somewhere still alive in young Shikhar Mishra as he got pulled into the world of theatre. Initially, the primary reason Mishra got on stage was to help him get over his stammering and the teasing that came with it. Joining the realm of arts for practical reasons Mishra soon fell in love with everything that theatre had to offer. The freedom to express and be anyone one wishes to be gave Shikhar Mishra aka thetheatrewala the push to pursue theatre full time.

His journey into theatre was not all smooth sailing as his family was a bit hesitant about this journey in the initial days given the condition of theatre in India. But despite all of that he trudged through it all as he felt a calling in his art for theatre. Shikhar Mishra also mentions how his lack of interest in academics also left him with one option which is theatre. With his elder brother’s support and his grandfather as his inspiration, he continued his theatre journey to Delhi to understand the art of theatre and drama better.

Shikhar Mishra: A Life in Theatre & Cinema

Although Shikhar Mishra shifted to Delhi with big dreams life was anything but easy in the capital of India. Struggling to establish himself as a serious actor, Mishra finally managed to make people take a second look at his potential with his role as Dheeraj Adhikari in the famous thriller play by Piyush Mishra, San 2025 in the year 2020. The role not only gave space for Shikhar Mishra to establish himself as an actor but also allowed him to explore a different kind of character that was very out of the ordinary. 

Learning a lot from theatre, Shikhar Mishra explains to us how he gets into the head of his character. For him, every character is rooted in a particular city or place and that’s where his journey as the person representing him begins. Packing his bags Mishra heads to the origin place of his character and tries to understand how the character must have lived and struggled or enjoyed his life. Plus, the added benefit of the locals giving him tidbits about the place just helps him fine-tune his role as an actor. Apart from changing his lifestyle to suit the character he represents, he emphasises the importance of being disciplined and delivering the dialogues at the right time to do justice to a character. 

Although the name Shikhar Mishra is synonymous with theatre today, he still shares a deep love and respect for the art of cinema. Having acted in critical films like Main Atal Hu alongside his super senior Pankaj Tripathi, Shikhar Mishra shares how he learnt something new every day by staying on the set of the film even after his part was done for the day. Apart from improving his acting skills, he also learnt about how to manage the camera, set up the frame, and much more. One day he wishes to enact the role of a person in defence as being a former scout he has deep respect and admiration for people in that field.

Despite his cinematic debut, Mishra still feels a 60% pull towards theatre because of its unique feature of getting immediate feedback from the audience. Shikhar Mishra explains how though the audience does impact how he performs a role he does try to act in a way as if no one is watching to ensure that his character gets his due justice. It’s all about the balance according to Mishra. Mishra cites Irrfan Khan, Kumud Mishra, Makarand Deshpande, Sheeba Chaddha, and Moin Akhtar as his inspiration in theatre due to their ability to master both the stage and the reel and deep respect for both the art forms. 

Being ever grateful to his fans, Shikhar Mishra takes some time to answer a few questions by one of his ardent fans, Vivaan Aras and advises him how important it is to understand your own self and emotions and those of character to be able to strike a balance and fill the void and do justice to a role. He also shares some tips about how to be more expressive on stage and recommends joining a dance or martial arts class to free one’s body.

Journey of thetheatrewala

Shikhar Mishra elaborates how the name for thetheatrewala was very random but the vision behind the same was very concrete, which was to help connect people to theatre. In an attempt to help people learn and understand theatre at affordable prices and to dispel any misconceptions around the art form, thetheatrewala was brought into existence. Reviving the Indian theatre teachings of the Natya Shastra and fusing it with Western traditions, thetheatrewala offers a unique blend of art form that is rooted in Indian culture and Indian theatre. To help the corporate world with the power of storytelling and drama, thetheatrewala also provides a space for collaboration.

Shedding light on the humble beginnings of thetheatrewala, Shikhar Mishra explains how hard it was for him and his team to find the right audience for the brand. It was only through social media that his brand finally took off. Leveraging on the “75 HARD Challenge” which was a fitness challenge, Mishra tweaked it and made it for actors by giving them certain tasks to complete in a day and asking them to post a pic of the same. This provided the brand with the momentum it truly deserved.

Message for Dreamers

Keeping it simple, Shikhar Mishra urges dreamers to “Stop procrastinating, stop thinking and start doing”, as according to him it’s only when you do it, do you realise if that’s what you want to do in the long run. He further adds that attending workshops may seem like a waste of money now but in the long run, it’s actually an investment in yourself, so once again you need to start doing it rather than thinking about it.

In the serene calm city of Salem, located in the southernmost state of India, Tamil Nadu, Bala Nivetha’s artistic journey began as a childhood hobby—colour pencils and crayons scattered across her other stationery favourites, doodled pages, and painted canvases. Today, she stands as a multifaceted artist and teacher, known for her expertise in sculpture painting and art, and her ability to transform her passion into a thriving profession.

In an interview with Bala Nivetha, prominently recognised for her nature-esque sculpture paintings, we discuss about the joy of art and craft and the luxury of being able to follow one’s dreams without fears.

A Passion Born Early: Bala Nivetha and the Beginnings of Art

For Bala Nivetha, the allure of arts and crafts started way back in school. As a student, she was always up and about all art competitions and anything artsy. Bala wasn’t just fascinated with art, but also quite excellent at it. The passion continued, and Bala knew she wanted to completely embrace her creative talents. Thus, stepping away from the tech-driven expectations often tied to her generation, she pursued fashion design during her undergraduate and postgraduate years. It was an extension of her passion for arts and crafts. By the time college began, Bala was already selling her artwork. “I started selling my artwork during college and later shifted to teaching online through Facebook and then Instagram,” she explains. This gradual evolution allowed her to lay the groundwork early on.

Experimentation and Growth: Sculpture Paintings, Resin Art, and More

Bala is a mixed-medium artist, playing with several mediums of arts and crafts. “I used to get bored with one medium, so I’d experiment every time I visited a stationery shop,” she recalls. Even as a child, she’d shift from colour pencils to water colours, one from another, as if to quench her thirst for newer ways of creation. As an adult now, she juggles between chalk paint and acrylics to resin and sculpture art, her work reflects a continuous drive to learn and adapt. As a teacher, Bala believes she must remain updated with the newest trends and mediums of art. Her workshops became a platform for exploring new trends and sharing them with her growing audience.

Her signature, however, lies in sculpture art and painting, a highly embossed, 3D art form that has gained popularity in India. “It’s therapeutic and unique,” she says. Sculpture art is almost like a replica – layer by layer – of different objects. Most of Bala’s running themes with her sculpture painting remain nature – particularly floral themes and ponds. Nature, as she says, has been her primary source of inspiration since forever.

As for resin art, Bala comments that it is an easy-to-master art form that doesn’t require much training. However, resin art has environmental concerns tied to it, which makes her hesitant to use this art form much.

How Does Bala Nivetha Navigate Challenges and Creative Blocks?

Despite the joy her craft brings, Bala is not immune to challenges. The digital age has introduced issues like concept theft, with people copying her ideas or reposting her reels without credit. “It’s heartbreaking, but I remind myself that it’s because we’re doing something right,” she says with a tone of resilience.

When creative blocks arise, she turns to Pinterest or revisits basic mediums like doodling to reignite her inspiration. Moreover, other artists on Instagram, from different countries and regions, also serve as a respite and inspiration during creative blocks.

Balancing Passion and Profession

For Bala, art is more than a job—it’s a way of life. “I don’t take breaks. This is my hobby, profession, and passion,” she shares. Bala works seven days a week, without any breaks, and she quite thoroughly enjoys it. The freedom of being a full-time artist allows her to work on her own terms, a privilege she deeply values. After all, Bala’s mantra to life in her words is, “Being successful means being happy, that’s it.”

Bala also emphasizes that success in this field requires persistence, hard work, and patience. Art is a very competitive landscape that continually demands creativity and newness. In this field, standing out is essential.

When asked what she hopes to influence others with her art, she replied with a simple answer: to encourage others to nurture their passions. “Don’t let the little child inside you fade away. Whether it’s drawing, singing, or dancing, connect with your soul and enjoy the process,” she advises.

For beginners, her guidance is simple: “Master one thing before moving on to the next. Experiment and keep learning—it’s a journey, not a one-day job.”

Looking Ahead

Bala has her art studio in Salem, which she plans to transform in a personal gallery in the near future. Although she has no immediate plans for exhibitions, she hopes to conduct her workshops across the globe and not just in India.

In a world of hush and rush, driven by expectations, deadlines, and competition, Bala Nivetha’s journey reminds us of the beauty of persistence, creativity, and the simple joy of doing what we love!

When you reach a certain age everyone starts expecting certain things from you. Society starts expecting you to behave in a certain way. It’s like they forget that you too are a human with your own wishes and fancies. Your age which opened doors for you as you transitioned from a child to an adult becomes your biggest barrier when you go beyond adulthood and enter old age. Even though your body feels fine and your mind is ready to climb the next Everest society tells you that it’s not right and you should take a break. Defying all these silly expectations that society has set for people who are old, Neeru Saini trailblazes her way through it all. And we know it as she shared the same with us in our interview.

Neeru Saini: Early Life

Born in Batala, Punjab, Neeru Saini was a bright young girl. At an early age, she showed tremendous interest in sports and even became a national-level sportsperson as a child. But at the young age of 20, she was married off. And as married life entered the mix, her passion for sports, dance, and fitness took a back seat. She completely devoted herself to raising her family.

For many years after the marriage life was stable and calm with the usual chaos from children. But soon the storm came that uprooted Neeru Saini’s life from the ground. At age 28, her husband was diagnosed with blood cancer. And in four years they had drained up all the family savings but sadly her husband lost the battle to cancer. A housewife with no money in her early thirties and two daughters to take care of life seemed like an endless dark tunnel. Many people may have given up but Neeru Saini didn’t even think about giving up. She believed that there was still more to life and it was not the end for her or her children.

Neeru Saini: Building A Life Again

After the unfateful incident that resulted in the death of her husband, Neeru Saini picked herself up and restarted her life. She began by providing tuition to school kids and studying simultaneously to help her gain a better job. Soon she started working as a full-time teacher in a private school and later in a government school. Through it all she ensured that she never lost faith in herself and ensured that her kids got all that they needed. She even urged her daughters to find their own future even though it may take them far from her. She ensured that her daughters were independent and could blaze through life like she did. Even to this day, she looks back to those times in her life when she started her life from scratch after her husband’s death as the time that really moulded her into the resilient person that she is today.

But even after building herself up, things changed in such a way that she couldn’t help but fall apart once again. She loved others around her so much that when she was left by herself she just couldn’t understand what to do. That’s when she had to find herself. She even considered going for a second marriage but her uncle became her voice of reason and told her to focus on herself if she wanted to get out of her depression and not another person. He suggested her to try meditation and she joined a meditation camp, where she realised that there was so much she could do by herself. 

Gradually she re-connected to her first love, sports and soon dancing followed. And little by little she found bits and pieces of herself that she had lost over the years. Neeru Saini learnt to love herself all over again.

Neeru Saini: Social Media Journey

Soon enough she asked an ex-student of hers, a yoga and dance instructor, to teach her the same. And while dancing her heart out and perfecting her yoga postures she asked her student to record the same and one day with her permission he posted the same on social media, and she realised that she felt good doing it. And that’s how her social media journey began.

As a way to empower women in her area, she formed many a WhatsApp group for different activities, from running to biking to dancing. Initially, she posted her dance videos in the groups to encourage her fellow female friends to express themselves and not hold back. When she started posting on social media like Instagram, and YouTube her goal remained the same, to help other women in India realise that it’s never too late to do what you love.

Rather than following any trendy diet, Neeru Saini focuses on eating clean and organic food and exercising regularly to stay fit. As and when some of her videos started becoming viral, haters followed suit. Initially, it did bother her as many commented on how she should act according to her age and not post such dancing videos on social media. But while meditating she realised if she was actually doing something wrong she shouldn’t feel happy about it or do it at all, there was no point in doing it but not posting it on social media. Hence, she realised that she was not on the wrong side of things.

But being a teacher by profession she couldn’t just tell the haters to shut up, she decided to explain to them her side of the story and as predicted many did understand and sympathised with her and even apologised for their comments. To this day she believes in focusing on herself rather than thinking too much about what others think, keeping her faith in “kill ‘em with kindness” Neeru Saini turns a hater into a follower with her patience and grace. With her goal of influencing more older Indians to be fit and put it out on social media, she hopes to increase the number of older female Indian fitness influencers.

A Message for Young Dreamers

As someone who has been on social media for a long time now, she realises that you need to have a thick skin to truly feel happy about what you put out. She urges the younger generation to think thoroughly about what part of their life they are comfortable showcasing. As that part may be put through a lot of scrutiny and may receive negative backlash. She suggests that they apologise if they are in the wrong but she also suggests that they stand their ground if they know they didn’t do anything wrong. At the end of the day, she suggests to just enjoy their time on social media and be themselves.